Covenant
' |image= |series= |production=40510-559 |producer(s)= |story= |script=René Echevarria |director=John Kretchmer |imdbref=tt0708520 |guests=Jason Leland Adams as Benyan, Marc Alaimo as Gul Dukat, Maureen Flannigan as Mika, Miriam Flynn as Midwife, Norman Parker as Vedek Fala and Mark Piatelli as Brin |previous_production=The Siege of AR-558 |next_production=It's Only a Paper Moon |episode=DS9 S07E09 |airdate= 25 November 1998 |previous_release=(DS9) The Siege of AR-558 (Overall Infinite Regress |next_release=(DS9) It's Only a Paper Moon (Overall Nothing Human |story_date(s)=Unknown |group="N"}} (2375) |previous_story=Thirty Days |next_story=Infinite Regress }} =Summary= Odo wishes he shared Kira's belief in the Prophets so he could spend time with her during worship. The sermon that day was given by Vedek Fala, who visits Kira in her quarters later to give her a gift, which is quickly revealed to be a transponder that beams her off the station. Kira finds herself at Empok Nor, now inhabited by Bajorans who believe that the Pah wraiths are the true Prophets of Bajor. The leader of their cult is none other than Dukat. The Bajorans' faith in Dukat is so strong that when Kira threatens to kill Dukat with a phaser, many of them place themselves in Kira's line of fire. Kira is knocked unconscious by one of the cult members, waking up in Dukat's quarters. Fala introduces Kira to cult members Benyan and Mika. Mika will give birth soon, while Benyan is seen working on a mural showing Dukat in a friendly pose with Bajorans, with the Celestial Temple as background. Kira is not convinced. When Mika gives birth, with the whole station's populace waiting in the lobby, the baby turns out to be half-Cardassian. Shocked at first, Dukat improvises a speech in which he calls the baby a "miracle" from the Pah-wraiths, a sign approving their faith in Dukat. But Kira is immediately certain that Dukat is in fact the biological father of the child. Mika and Dukat have a conversation in an airlock in which Dukat states that the child is his, and he promises to stand by her. But as soon as he gets out, Dukat closes the inner door of the airlock and opens the outer door. Mika is nearly blown out into space, but survives, though with severe injuries. The doctor reports that Mika is likely to recover fully. Dukat calls the incident an "accident", but prays to the Pah-wraiths, concerned that his followers will discover what he has done. Ultimately, Dukat decides to have the Bajoran believers commit mass suicide and announces it at a special service. He then confronts Kira, describing how the poison he intends to use will reduce the body to dust within a few hours. Locked in her quarters, Kira hears Dukat's sermon and discovers a way to break out. She arrives in the promenade just in time before Dukat swallows his suicide pill, knocking it out of his hand and onto the floor with the other pills. Dukat then tries to find his pill amongst the others, at which point Kira accuses him of trying to use a placebo, having no intention of dying himself. With this revelation, the Bajorans turn against him. Dukat beams out, and Fala takes a pill and swallows it, explaining his decision with the word "faith". The Defiant arrives and takes the Bajorans back to DS9. Kira ponders the meaning of Fala's last words and acknowledges that Dukat may truly believe in what he was doing, making him more dangerous than ever. Errors and Explanations Nit Central # You on Wednesday, November 25, 1998 - 2:02 pm: We learn that given the right conditions a Dominion transporter can transport people 3 light years! So why don't they just transport troops and ships from afar? Perhaps the mass to distance ratio only permits one person to be transported over such a long distance. # Amos Painter on Sunday, November 29, 1998 - 9:23 pm: Wouldn't Mika have been sucked into space? I know she didn't float in airlock because of the GRAV generators. But are they stronger than the vacuum of Space? Brian on Sunday, November 29, 1998 - 11:20 pm:''Actually, you aren't "sucked" into space. When an airplane decompresses nobody gets sucked out. You get BLOWN out. Its called osmosis kids, areas of denser concentration move to areas of lesser concentration. When a plane flies through the air, the air density outside the plane at 35,00 feet is much lower than the air density inside the plane. What happens when the plane loses compression? The air inside moves out and takes people with it. Once the air is all out of the plane the pressure is equalized and nobody else goes flying out. So that is why she was able to plop on the floor and not get blown out. HOWEVER, the air would have moved out with GREAT force, in fact the room (small as it was) should have decompressed almost instantly. There would be no way she would have been able to stay in there regardless of whether she clung to the door or not. I guess it is possible when the door opened the internal sensors boosted the power to the GRAV generators and kept her in there. But why let the door open in the first place? ''Seniram 17:13, November 14, 2017 (UTC) Dukat could have programmed the airlock to allow this. # Bitmap on Monday, November 30, 1998 - 9:02 am: Say wait a minute. How fast does transported matter go? If it's S.O.L. (speed of light) then Kira obviosly should have rematerialized three years later, unless transportation is instant. If that's the case we've just found a way to bring voyager home! Just build a hugh transporter and beam it on home. Of course the question "Why need a starship anyway?" comes to mind. Brian on Tuesday, December 01, 1998 - 9:42 pm: Transporters most-likely would use subspace to transmit, so to bring Voyager home using a transporter would still take a long time. # ScottN on Tuesday, December 01, 1998 - 9:27 am: How come Dukat didn't get violently crazy? Wasn't Empok Nor the station where Garak freaked because of some virus or something? It was a biogenic compound, which Dukat most likely had disposed off when the cult took over the station. Notes Category:Episodes Category:Deep Space Nine